BREEP BREEP BRE—

Each morning you throw yourself out of bed at an ungodly hour, force your way into the shower and prepare the lamest outfit of the week. Key in the ignition, you stop and question if you should just rewind everything and crawl back into bed, telling yourself school can wait.

You have senioritis—terminal, I fear.

Every senior who suffers from this affliction will testify that the crippling weight of our last semester often overpowers our desire to excel. But we want better for ourselves, don’t we?

Trust me, I can relate. Eventually, though, I realized that my senior year deserved better; after bitter trial and error, I eradicated my senioritis.

For all the lethargic seniors out there barely scraping by, I hold the key to crushing your senior year.

Ditch the Phone

I cannot tell you how much valuable time I lose whenever I study or do homework with my phone out. Do a problem—bzz—read some notes—bzz—look at a flashcard—bzz.

It is nearly impossible to regain your focus after your phone vibrates, leaving you perpetually procrastinating. School is meant to be boring, so put your phone somewhere else!

This extends to the classroom too; leaving your phone off in your bag keeps your attention on the lecture. It can already feel too difficult to focus with the end of the year looming in, and your device only worsens it.

Keep a Calendar

The “whatever” schedule needs to go—chaos is the enemy of progress.

Shockingly, updating a calendar with all your relevant assignments and projects keeps your workload manageable. Gone will be the overwhelming sense that cripples us all.

Install an online calendar and fill out everything you can think of—take entries from your school’s portal or some syllabi.

I so often forget about homework or quizzes until the last minute, but whenever I keep track of them, I feel confident and prepared every morning.

Get Some Shut-Eye

It is imperative that we get some good sleep! Teenagers are not meant to go to school on five hours of rest. Fatigue kills motivation and causes us to fall off later in the school day. 

Before, I used to barely survive sleeping from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m., not getting any work done. Whenever I put in a good eight hours or more, I feel excited about school instead of being exhausted.

Make an honest effort to lose the screens, sip some water and hit the hay before midnight at the latest.

While all these tips may fall on many, many—many—deaf ears, I do highly encourage everyone to make an effort to finish their senior year strong. College will destroy us if we forget how to do homework.

To those reading in the younger, more peaceful grades, don’t see this and worry. Senior year can be the most rewarding and successful year of your academic career! All it takes is the right attitude and some grit!